The New York Islanders kept on rolling tonight, running up their hot streak to 10-1-2 in their last 13 games with a 5-3 win in Toronto. That streak dates back to just after a 4-2 loss to Pittsburgh at the Coliseum on March 22nd, darn near a month ago. They’ve lost one in regulation since then and have earned a point in all nine games they’ve played this April (7-0-2).Good times in Islander County. Awfully good times.

For the majority of the night the Islanders outshot and outplayed their opponents, but they found themselves in a hole early on. After two quick penalties to the Leafs, it was almost Toronto in the proverbial hole, but the Leafs were able to kill off a 5-on-3 that the Islanders never really put together.

Once the penalties expired, the Leafs cashed in twice in a two minute span. First it was Joffrey Lupul to opent the scoring, then Cody Franson on the power play – created by a Matt Carkner interference penalty. Just like that is was 2-0 Leafs and the Islanders had their work cut out for them.

To get the team fired up, both Carkner and Matt Martin dropped the gloves in succession to try and ‘get the team going.’ The Leafs carry a couple of fighters to begin with, so maybe it was inevitable, but Coach Capuano and a few Islanders credited the pair of fights with picking the team up.

Whether the fights were the cause or not, the effect was clear; the team woke up and took control of a Leafs team that looked out of sorts and completely ineffective at times. The Islanders would end up leading the first period in shots 19-5 (!) and score three times before the period ended.

Brad Boyes opened the scoring for the islanders two and a half minutes after the Leafs’ second goal and about 80 seconds after the latter fight. He took a stunning pass from John Tavares and put the puck past James Reimer to get the Isles on the board. Later in the period, Matt Moulson would tip in a power play goal and Tavares scored on a 2-on-1 with Moulson.